By the Numbers: The Underwater Cables That Connect Us

By Rebecca J. Rosen

To commemorate the completion of the first lasting transatlantic cable, we take a look at some facts about communication across the seas

On this day in 1866, the first permanent transatlantic cable connected Europe and North America, allowing telegraphic messages to cross the ocean nearly instantly, though it still took about 24 hours to reach New York from the small fishing village in Newfoundland where the cable ended.

To commemorate this major advance in communication technology, we've rounded up some curious facts and figures about the flow of information across the oceans.

3: The number of weeks the first transatlantic cable lasted after completion in 1858.

14: The number of days the Great Eastern took to sail from Ireland to Newfoundland setting the 1866 cable, eight years after the first cable failed.

10: Number of dollars per word to send a cable across the Atlantic in 1866. Messages were required to be a minimum of 10 words.

August 4, 1914: Date of an early act of infowarfare. At the beginning of World War I, the British deliberately cut a German cable running from Borkum, Germany, to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. (via @ajblum)